Marathon Speed - Tradeoffs

vorlon_mi

Emperor
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
1,699
Location
Chelsea, MI, USA
As noted in this thread https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/advice-for-gemini-difficulty.692352/, I started a game as Franco-Iberia, on Marathon Speed. It's my first game at Marathon, so I wanted to share some thoughts on strategies and tradeoffs.

Main Difference: Although this seems obvious, everything takes longer. Nearly every action: buildings and units take longer to build; explorer expeditions take longer to complete research takes more science to finish a tech. Units (once you build or buy them) still move the same number of tiles per turn.

Risk Avoidance: My normal gameplay involves avoiding some risks in the early game. I avoid sending newbie soldiers (infantry or armor) into nests of aliens; I avoid Krakens who can one-shot my navy or explorers. But the length of time it takes to replace a unit at Marathon speed drives me to be even more careful, moving one tile at a time so that I can see potential hazards. I really don't want to lose a trade convoy to aliens, so I chose to build the Ultrasonic Fence and wait for its quest to kick in before starting any trade routes.
In this game I'm emphasizing growth, to avoid being picked on because I'm small. At the same time, I want to carefully choose the location for each city to avoid even the appearance of forward settling an opponent. I have two cities on turn 130, with two more colonists about to set out in the next 10 turns. All 4 cities so far have been land-based (actual and planned), while my 5th may be aquatic.
For diplomacy, I've tried to make friends with my neighbors. I got two of them to Cooperating, even though spending that diplo capital delayed choosing Personality traits. This has helped avoid some of the trash talk that @MarqFJA87 experienced in his game. One opponent (Kozlov) who is furtherst from me is not happy that I'm cooperating with one of my friends, but I'm not as worried about him. He seems to pick fights with his closer neighbors/enemies.

Choices of Virtues and Techs: With acquisitions being SO SLOW, the first choices seem to be more important. My loadout included Pioneering, so I could build Colonists right away. In order, ,my first techs were:
  1. Ecology, started turn 0 for the UFence and protect my traders
  2. Physics, started turn 82 for Rangers/Gunners, protect my cities and distance attack a Siege Worm
  3. Chemistry, started turn 126 so I could improve the oil near my cities
I usually beeline the Prosperity virtues for extra Explorer modules. This game, I did take Frugality (the Prosperity opener) as my first virtue on turn 30. But after thinking more about the pacing, I switched to the Might side for the next 3 virtues.
  1. Frugality (Prosp) on turn 30
  2. Adaptive Tactics (Might) on turn 43
  3. Survivalism (Might) on turn 70
  4. Scavenging (Might, level 2) on turn 115
Alternate Sources of Yields: Trying to accumulate science, gold, and culture through buildings or artifacts alone is going to be too slow. In due course, I can get my espionage empire going, which will let me steal gold/energy through missions. But that will required building the Spy Agency (dozens of turns) and the missions... how long wil those take? At standard speed, the first "Siphon Energy" missions take 25 turns. How long on Marathon? :crazyeye:
WIth the right choices of Virtues and Character Traits, I can make killing aliens with city shots and ranged units profitable. I chose the Honorable military trait, that rewards some culture with each unit killed. I pursued Scavenging (above) so that I can get some science from each alien killed. I nearly always choose the Subtle Political trait for improved spy missions, but this time I chose Generous: I'm concerned I may need to cash-purchase units in a pinch. After my first war, I may switch to Subtle. I've delayed choosing a Domestic trait, trying to decide between Industrialist (for production boost) or Innovative (for science boost).

Baby Steps ... I feel like I'm moving so slowly, playing defense all the time. Do any of you have more experience at Marathon Speed? In other civ games, at Marathon speed?
I'll post again around turn 200 or 250.
 
Turn 240 Updates...

Talking Trash and War: At turn 200, I reached Cooperating status with 3 factions, including my two closest neighbors. One of them was #2 on the score list, while I was 7th (second from bottom). Not that the score means much, when one has 280 and the other has 310. By turn 235, one of my Cooperating neighbors (PAU) had grown to #1 on the score list; I had grown to #6. Two sponsors lowered their opinion of me to Sanctioned. One of the neutrals declared on me on turn 210 (NSA), but his cities were far away. SF declared on turn 214, but he was even further away. Brasil, one of my close neighbors and a potential warmonger, lowered me to Neutral around turn 180, but not lower.
A key factor that is NOT lengthened at Marathon speed: willingness to accept peace. In my last 8 games or so at standard speed, I kept notes on which turns the AI declared on each other and which turns they eventually made peace with each other. Wars always lasted at least 25 turns and showed a clear trend for peace on the 25th turn.
I saw no NSA or SF troops or navy anywhere near my territory. Kozlov accepted a "white peace" 25 turns later. Duncan had killed one of my far-ranging Explorers with a ranged ship, but that was it. He also accepted a "white peace" after 25 turns.

Pay close attention to the relations with your neighbors, in the early-game and mid-game. Having far away sponsors angry with you can be tiresome, or a potential risk to a trader with a faraway station, but their anger is not a threat to your growth or victory. I've grown to #6 on the list, by turn 235.

SLOW Affinity Growth: Yes, I've met everyone. I had met everyone by turn 130. For some, I only know about their capital. But I can infer things about their start (and its quality terrain) by checking their affinities through the Diplo Summary screen. Turn 235 report
CivStatus
NSA0/1/2 Sanctioned
FI (me)2/2/0 (Harmony / Purity / Supremacy)
SF1/3/2 War (would make peace on turn 239) #2 in score
Chungsu2/0/2 Sanctioned
KP2/0/2
INTEGR0/3/0 Cooperating #3 in score
Brasil1/2/2
PAU2/2/0 Cooperating #1 in score

The rate of affinity growth is pretty uniform. Those sponsors with higher scores must have larger cities, perhaps even taken one from a neighbor. Those with higher total affinity (SF, total of 6) are clearly expanding wide and tall. Nobody has enough affinity to get to level 2 for their troops.
 
Turn 400 Update: Marathon speed is an acquired taste. The overall pace through the tech web is so slow. I've done more restoring from saves than at standard speed. My affinity is 6//3/2. If this were standard speed, I would have finished by now.

Nobody Likes Me Except You: In one of my other threads here, I asked about overall leader tendencies. Samatar (from PAU) has usually been relatively easy to get to Cooperating in most games. A very loyal friend. Literally every other sponsor has lowered me to Sanctioned and declared on me. All but two are too far away to march land troops towards me, while the snaky landmasses make it very hard to get naval vessels to my area. So we "dance", pretending to war for 25 turns, and settle for a white peace. Becoming tedious.
My one-time buddy, Lena, turned sour about the time I passed her on the scoreboard. She was able to send some land troops through PAU to approach one of my cities. Nearly all were weakened from miasma, so they were easy pickings. I'm not sure what will be required to make any of the others stop being angry. Perhaps an affinity buff, or a few more veteran units?

Lucky Expeditions, Unlucky Explorers: Only 3 artifacts, but not a useful result from combining them. In one of my expeditions at a Progenitor site, I picked up part 1 of the Signal. Hurrah! But the units themselves keep being ambushed by aliens. I may need to start escorting them with submarines.
 
Top Bottom